Page 3 of Secrets, Lies and Love

He doesn't seem to feel guilty. "We both get insomnia and Joseph is great company."

All my brothers have accepted him as a Kostanidis, despite knowing that he's not my biological son.

I never saw myself as someone capable of taking care of a child, whether it was mine or not, and it surprised me, when I met Sue pregnant by her idiot ex-husband—may the devil keep him in hell—how strong a connection I had with the baby when he was still in his mother's belly.

In every way that counts, Joseph is mine. I registered him and took care of him even before he was born.

My brother gets up and heads for the door. "Let me know if you change your mind about dinner."

"I'm not going. I'll save the evening for my son. I have to travel in a few weeks, and I need to make up for the time we'll be apart. As for the night nanny, if I don't get one by then, I'll have to leave him with Elina.”

Ares smiles. "I'm sure my nephew will prefer Odin's wife to a nanny. He's a total Kostanidis: like us, he doesn't like strangers around him."

Joseph is a sad baby who doesn't seem comfortable with anyone but us. Even Sue teased him about it: that she had carried him inside her body for nine months, and yet the boy only seemed to have eyes for me. Little by little, he got used to my brothers, too.

"All good. And as for your meeting there," he says, nodding to my phone, "if you need me to stay with him, just give me fair warning."

"Do you want this one?" I ask my son, who’s trying to take a building block from my hands.

We are sitting on the floor of his playroom. When I got home, I went straight to him, stopping only to take off my shoes, socks, and suit jacket.

He nods, answering yes.

"Saynα??*]."

"Naiiiiii," he repeats, extending the last letter, and I feel proud of my boy.

After watching him put the piece in the right place, I hold out my hand to him. As always, Joseph doesn't hesitate and comes into my arms. I clutch him to my chest, thinking about the conversation I had with Ares.

All my brothers are haunted by the same worry as me: that in the future, someone from his biological family will claim custody of my boy.

"It won't happen, son. I won't let people like that raise you. They will never know where you are.”

* Protagonist ofSeduced by Contract,book 1 of Kostanidis Brothers saga.

* Protagonist ofAbout Love and Revenge, book 1 of Lykaios Family.

* “Yes” in Greek.

Cecily

CHAPTER TWO

Months later

MANHATTAN ISLAND — NEW YORK

I squeezethe handle of my suitcase tightly to try to calm myself, but my heart is beating so fast that I feel sick.

Manhattan looks even scarier in person than in the movies. Cars pass by on all sides, honking their horns and perhaps showing their owners' temperament.

The entire island screams impatience and haste. Totally contrary to the peaceful life I led until recently.

I rest my luggage at my feet as I look around. I'm surrounded by skyscrapers. That's what they call buildings that are so tall that they make it impossible to see the sun. The city, even in the morning, is partially hidden in the shadows of the buildings, and I wonder how anyone can be happy living in this jungle of concrete and steel.

I place my fingers on my forehead and feel the cold sweat that covers it.

God, I want to go home.

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